AMD reveals more Barcelona details

Takes on Intel with new mobile processors too

Chip maker AMD revealed more details about its forthcoming K10 Barcelona microprocessor at a journalist briefing in London yesterday. AMD claimed the new processor will beat Intel's competition in "all aspects".

Guiseppe Amato, technical director at AMD Europe, said that one of the key benefits of AMD's new K10 microprocessor is its ease of use. Those wishing to upgrade using Socket F need only change the BIOS to move to the new chip.

Amato said the new Barcelona architecture will be migrated to both desktop and mobile platforms, commenting it "must be faster". He added that the newly redesigned memory connect of the microprocessor will give it an advantage over Intel's designs.

Amato stressed Barcelona's ability to deliver a more powerful clock cycle, plus a bigger buffer and L1, L2 and L3 caches. It will be optimised for "even lower power consumption," Amato said. The AMD K10 Turion Barcelona chip is due for release in the second half of this year.

AMD is also to release five new mobile processors to coincide with the launch of arch rival Intel 's new Centrino Pro (Santa Rosa) platform. The new processors support DDR2-800 using an updated memory controller. AMD is moving to the 65 nanometre technology which brings higher clock speeds and lower heat output.

Two Turion series are to be launched. The 35 W TDP includes the 2.3GHz Turion 64 X2 TL-66 and the 2.2GHz Turion 64 X2 TL-64, while the 31 W TDP series features three new products: the 2GHz Turion 64 X2 TL-60, 1.9GHz Turion 64 X2 TL-58 and 1.8GHz Turion 64 X2 TL-56.

AMD could not confirm any pricing details for these new processors but it is likely that they will bring about price reductions.